I've just re-read that 17 year old newspaper report plus another report that fleshes out the story which is not as you represented it. The PCSOs didn't stand around watching a child drown. They arrived after the fishermen aged 63 & 68 (so only one OAP not two) had fished out the female. The pond was not "a few feet deep" but 6'5" deep which is why the fishermen couldn't wade in to pull out the boy. There was no sign of the boy when the PCSOs arrived.That original article let's remind ourselves referred to people employed as PCSOs who stood and watched two children in a pond a few feet deep drowning, while OAP fishermen waded in and fished out one of them. The other drowned. The health and safety obsession in the public sector is a nightmare.
My conclusion is that the 10 year old boy died because his parents allowed him & his sister aged 8, brothers aged 8 & 10 & other sister aged 5 to play unsupervised at this dangerous pool. Whatever the PCSOs did or didn't do had no effect on the outcome.
Hero, 10, died saving sister
A BOY of 10 who gave his life to save his drowning step-sister has been hailed a hero. Jordon Lyon jumped into a pond in Wigan when Bethany Ganderton, eight, got into difficulties. Two anglers saw Bethany `clinging' on to Jordon as he tried to reach the side.
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk